all of these wars are being waged in syria. the effect in syria is it is syrians to the dying. it is not syrians who stand to gain from any of these wars. the only thing we need to do with these wars is not to win inm, but to end the fighting syria. this escalation by the united states of its existing level of bombing and special forces, engagement, and intervention in syria has now been escalated to direct bombing against the regime target. this will make things worse, not better. the call i think needs to be to stop the bombing, stop the claim that somehow there is a military solution here. it knowledge there is no mill at -- acknowledge there is to military solution, a figure out how to make the kind of massive investment of high-profile time, of money, of attention, of all of the things into diplomacy, negotiation, a new approach that is not going to be based on the clearly false assumption that somehow this is a war that can be won. it cannot be won. it has to be ended instead. amy: let me end on refugees ,alia. president trump not only as president, but on the campaign, r

you insulted syria, iran, turkey, other states. mr. president, i would ask you t o make sure that the rules and procedures of this meeting are respected. if some of the members speak insultingly. i cannot accept that you insult russia. nevertheless, we are very grateful to you for your work in the runup to the next round, further work will be required to make sure that syrian dialogue is truly representative and broad. all patrioticly-motivated parties should have an opportunity to take part on april the footing to engage in -- on equal footing to engage in a conversation on syria, where all historical communities would live in peace and take part in building the country, as has always been the case. from the side of the opposition, the should be an inclusive and consolidated coalition -- delegation. there is no room for arrogance. we need to think not about pride. we need to think of the future of syria. that is the substance of your conceptual document. to think of the future of their state, and that we shouldn't interfere in their a

he repeatedly argued against military action in syria. >> why can't we let isis and syria fight and let russia, they're in syria already, let them fight isis? >> reporter: tweeting repeatedly after the last chemical weapons attack four years ago, that the u.s. should stay out of the conflict and suggesting that president obama needed congressional action before taking action. a step that donald trump did not take last night. the white house did inform two dozen lawmakers before taking action. legislators on both sides of the aisle are urging the president to involve congress if the administration decides to do more. the president stated concern with the humanitarian situation on the ground in syria also starkly different from his campaign rhetoric. >> if i win, they're going back. >> reporter: in which he argued against allowing syrian refugee into the united states. >> i always say trojan horse. watch what's going to happen. >> reporter: the administration stance toward russia advancing. the america's top diplomat saying russia has been complicit or incompetent on the ability to delive

we need to think of the future of syria. that is the substance of your conceptual document, your note, the idea to think of the future of their state, and for that we should not interfere in their affairs. let them conduct their dialogue calmly and please don't interfere with his work in seeking a formula for a political solution. i know this is your position. an interruption in the work of state institutions. securityies to institutions that bear the main burden in combating the terrorist threat. look at the other countries of the middle east and africa and other regions. we can't even create a state institutions on paper, and what you want our to destroy the ones that are still there in syria, which is the most important country in the region. insist on discussions being held without any preconditions, and we know that is your position. obviously against a backdrop of political efforts, it is unacceptable that opponents of the government in damascus tried to achieve military progress or advances. on the eve of the previous

syria -- i don't want to start world war iii over syria, believe me. i don't like assad at all but assad is killing isis. russia is killing isis. and iran is killing isis. and those three have now lined up because of our weak foreign policy. i will tell you that attack on children yesterday had a big impact on me. my attitude toward syria and assad has changed very much. i think what happened in syria is one of the truly egregious crimes and it shouldn't have happened. >> let's go back to cecilia vega at the white house. cecilia, it's clear if you look at trump's statements that the images out of syria had a huge impact on him. however, the images out of syria in 2013, when the government there launched a chemical attack on its own people, those were also searing. what do you think has changed in the meantime? >> you know, dan, i was on capitol hill today. that is exactly what one democrat told me, that president trump, had he not seen those images? 2013? they're wondering what caused this soul-searching move and shift in the president's tone. especial

strike in syria. there's always that touchy subject of human rights, you know, a lot of criticism directed at china because of its poor human rights record. in this particular case was that topic brought up at all? >> reporter: well, there's been a long standing tradition of u.s. administrations to bring up human rights when they meet with their chinese counterparts and it does appear that the trump administration sort of brought it up. so in this statement i'll show you part of the statement it read, in quotes, he, meaning donald trump noted the importance of protecting human rights and other values deeply held by americans. that's it. done appear they talked very much about it. they talked about the economy, they talked about north korea, they talked about the south china sea and then they put in one line about human rights and other values. so we don't know what those other values are but it appears human rights not very high up on this agenda. >> all right, matt rivers live in beijing. when we com

is the onlyttlement of returning syria to peace and to easing the tensions in , through syria and through a political improvement in this country. that is the path toward normalizing the situation in many countries of the middle east. there is an opportunity of making syria a model of cooperation for a settlement, the various destructive geopolitical projects will not contribute to that. at least we will not give them a free pass on the security council. thank you very much, madam president. >> i will now make my statement is the representative of the united states. thank you very much for your helpful and informative briefing today. we do appreciate your commitment in this process going forward. last week, bashar al-assad yet again terrorized his own people with one of the world's most worth it weapons. his murderous attack shook every one of us to our core. it once again shows the world that assad is not a partner for peace. it shows what happens when assad's allies -- russia, iran, and has full of -- decide -- and has bulla -- and has below -- ollah -- decide to lend their support to a

lauren: for syria? >> for u.s. troops in syria. they were ramping up the furms because of the planned attack on raqqah to try to take raqqah back from the islamic state. we do have u.s. sources in syria. i'm sure that was a huge factor for the u.s. in considering this and for the trump administration and making this decision. one thing i want to point out, a couple of things, a lot of people are talk about president obama's decision not to -- not to retaliate against assad after that horrific attack back in 2013 with the chemical weapons. part of the reason was not having the support from the congressional side and also not having the support from our allies like britain. that's why it was decided we are going to have russia try to broker this. that he destroyed about 1300 tons of chemical weapons reportedly but there were always questions about whether or not they had actually destroyed everything and now we know -- nicole: thank you both for joining us. >> thank you. lauren: stocks had been down, 143 points, have paired most of t

when it comes to syria. but again, the main thing is, the president did do the right thing, what he -- what really matters now, wolf, is what comes next. there's an opportunity to leverage what we did, to really try to push for a more durable cease-fire, to stop the ongoing use of chemical or biological weapons and maybe to get assad to the table on a negotiation toward a transition. you've got to use this to leverage the russians. there's a real opportunity to do that. >> well, if you were still in the government right now, tony, what advice would you be giving this new american president and his secretary of defense, his national security adviser, the intelligence community, because you can launch 59 tomahawk cruise missiles at these targets in syria, but that doesn't necessarily bode well in the long-term. >> first, and mr. tillerson is going to be going to moscow next week, i would make it very clear to the russians that we will hold them accountable for assad's actions. they need to reign him in and the

service members in syria. is it clear to you, even just thinking about them, even just thinking about their families tonight, is it clear that the potential knock-on affects on that strike, the way the threat environment changes for those americans, is it clear to you that that's being adequately factored in to american decision making? >> i think there is evidence that it was considered why is why the special operators were moved out of that base. that was a force protection move, acutely on secretary mattis' mind. whether or not it's in the calculation of the president, who knows. >> do you have any idea what the president means when he says we're not going into syria, given that there are a thousand americans already there? >> i don't. i'm glad you pointed out at the top of the show that the united states has been bombing syria every day since september of 2014. american pilots are getting in aircraft or driving drones from afar and we have a thousand special forces on the ground and they are fighting again

policy response to syria. in terms of the impact on refugees, what this will likely do, make it harder to come home, term, t in the short there have been beginnings of discussion around how you can millions of syrian refugees who lost the country again. home discussion around safe zone, no-fly zones, called various of the ver the course policy debate, buffer zones, you know, essentially spaces where millions of refugees could start coming back into the country, relieve some on europe and neighboring states around syria, that doesn't seem to be likely time now. the other main point we're syrians and the region is that this is really a drop in the bucket in terms of we've seen in attacks against civilians in syria, even chemical weapons strikes, we've seen documentation of the chemical weapons believed to be attacks launched by the the n government against people using chemical weapons. last november, december, last september, back this string of attacks documented and this is just one of them and really just a

troops in syria. there have been some condemnations from russia and syria, but barely muted with the syria government calling this foolish and russia sticking with its narrative that there were no chemical weapons used and that the u.s. couldn't get it alone and that this was illegal. but when russia is really angry, the world knows about it. russia seems to be able to move on with this. there's a meeting between russian president putin and secretary of state rex tillerson. for now it seems like it was a one-off, at least for now, it seems that russia is prepared to move on from this. >> we could have gone with flying planes over syria. you get hit with aaa fire, whatever, more skin in the game, more accuracy perhaps. in the case of these cruise missiles, is that a sign that we're really in retreat or we're on advance? what political signal does it give countries like north korea? >> i was told by a u.s. official that was very well briefed on this that it was a happy coincidence that it was during the

that's the same -- that's the in addition syria. that's why syria is more difficult. the prime minister is struggling. he's working hard, but you don't have good political underpinning in syria. that's why a diplomatic solution s is the only way forward. >> you don't have that in iraq. if we don't get sunnis believing they're going to have control of their fate, iraq is going to go -- >> the sue sunni shia divide is not addressed. we've got to take a quick break. more of the russian challenge. a live report from moscow ahead. are you done yet? does it look like i'm done? shouldn't you be at work? [ mockingly ] "shouldn't you be at work?" todd. hold on. [ engine revs ] arcade game: fist pump! your real bike's all fixed. man, you guys are good! well, we are the number-one motorcycle insurer in the country. -wait. you have a real motorcycle? and real insurance, with 24-hour customer support. arcade game: wipeout! oh! well... i retire as champion. game hog! champion. ♪ seriously, what is this place? it's heaven. yeah, muscle heaven. you want to take one for a test drive

there will be no solution to syria, no solution to the extremist problem inside syria, no elimination of al qaeda and isis in syria until the assad regime goes because the vengeance factor against that regime is so intense. look what that regime has done to its people. by the way, that's not to accuse what the extremists have done to that regime and the people in syria. remember, for every bomb that the assad regime has thrown or tossed at some city inside syria, believe me, there's been plenty of rebels, extremists who have committed as many atrocities, horrific atrocities against the syrian people as well including christians and other ethnic minorities inside that country. while as much as i'm holding the assad regime responsible, i cannot in any way, shape, or form condone or forgive what many of these sunni extremists have done to their own people as well. host: half a minute left. what's the state of our relations between the u.s. and israel and in particular president trump and the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu? guest: i think most american jews as well as israelis

syria can be no exception. this was already a position of france the day after the chemical attack and we have never deviated from this position. the international community can no longer be fooled by delaying tactics of the assad regime. in adopting resolution 2118, the security council clearly committed itself to sanction any failure on the part of syria to meet its obligations. this did not prevent the regime of bashar al-assad from pursuing since 2013 the repeated barbaric use of weapons of mass destruction, openly flouting the authority of this council and its international commitments. these violations have been irrefutably documented by a united nations mechanism created by the security council. on the 28th of february last, the action of the security council once again was prevented by the unjustified use by russia of the veto. this impasse was seen by the assad regime as a sign of impunity. and in parallel, russia has not met its responsibilities and has not exercised the necessary pressure it should h

we want to keep syria together. you want to keep syria together. the best way to do that is not with bashar al assad. >> the president as a candidate, as a private citizen says don't telegraph what you're going to do. keep them guessing. i assume that's part of his strategy, not to announce. >> i think that's probably true. he said that during the campaign and even when people tried to press him on what his plans were he claimed he had these secret plans. yeah, i think he likes to operate in that way. if you look at the syria strike also he moved very quick wely a he's not somebody who's going to want to go to congress and talk about it and think about it the way president obama did. >> the iranians are involved supporting bashar al assad as well through various militia groups. saying the u.s. must not carry out any strikes. they didn't say what they would do, but it is a factor the u.s. should consider. >> iran is important in this because it's lost a huge number of fighters, well over 1,000, well over eight generals. its ally has lost over 2,000,

should stay out of syria? ryan brown, put us up to speed. >> reporter: good morning, these strikes were targeted at this air base link toded to the chem weapons attacks, information indicated that planes were involved in a chemical weapons strike including tracking data showing the planes leaving that air base, conducting the strike and returns, they weren't targeted at the personnel at the base, but were targeted at aircraft, radar, everything that makes the airfield operational, officials said. it's at a time they expected fewer personnel present. this was incapacitating the airfield which has a long history of chemical weapons, the arrangement that was supposed to eliminate stock pile of those types of weapons and general mic master sa -- mcmaster said this was a targeted strike, 59 tomahawk missiles in the hopes that it will deter future chemical weapons being created by the assad regime. >> let's get some world reaction. turn to cnn's chief correspondent christiane amanpour. we know why he sent the airstr

did in syria. maria: watching markets for sure, of course, we should not forget in reporting finance first quarter big story u.s. missiles strike a syrian air base, in response to a deadly chemical weapons attack conner powell live on israeli-syria board the la latest good morning to you. >> good morning getting information some of the conflicting information about aftermath of these u.s. strikes, on the air base in syria, about 6 or so jets damaged in these stwriekrikes pentagon telling our team 20 or so syrian jets were damaged about disabled russia getting a heads-up about an hour or so before these strikes were carried out, there were no russian jets damaging and none of the russian soldiers at this base appear to have been injured we understand at least seven syrians killed in about a seven or so others injured, so there is some information coming about this strike the main reason that the trump administration carried out this target was this is where they believe, that the jets took off carri

syria is a bit of a proxy war. all the players invested could retaliate in the other theaters they have more leverage in. russians in ukraine, iranians in yemen and syrians in neighboring area. this could widen. looks over from u.s. prospective but syrians and russians may not want to escalate quickly afterwards. >> joining me, syrian-american advocate and retired colonel. ask about the reports of the damage. one air field. some radar, some aircraft. in the overall scheme of things, air force is bigger than this, not going to be a permanent impediment to use of air power by the assad regime. >> no but don't forget a lot of this is not -- it's public relations. president said they crossed a line. same thing president obama had said and didn't do anything, i think this president felt compelled to do something so it didn't look like he was obama. >> right. >> he's playing to american audience involved. very important from his political standpoint in the united states to look like he's doing something. not going to hav

it's part of a wider look at where chemical weapons are in syria. >> so, speaking of is in syria we know there about a thousand u.s. troops there in syria. is the military doing anything different? are there any specific or special precautions being taken as i want relates to those thousand troops? >> reporter: that's right. those troops right now are part of the fight against isis but military officials are telling us that they are looking at -- they are taking precautionary steps, kind of looking, dedicating some surveillance assets to make sure those troops are not facing any threat of retaliation from the regime or forces allied with the regime. these forces have been in syria for some time. the military officials say they are always kind of looking at the wider operating environment, taking precautionary protective steps. we're told that for now they are taking additional measures and actually relaxing some of the fight against isis to ensure that those troops are protected. >> ryan brown for us in washington. thank you. brianna >> let's go to paula newton live for us in moscow. wha

policy toward syria? >> it could be. as i said, i think assad with his russian -- will begin to test after a period of time, they will begin to test american resolve and the resolve of our allies, with us, and about helpful if secretary tillerson in russia next week can convince the russians that we are determined to, again the point driven home by ambassador to the united nations ni ckki haley. tillerson has to get the russians to understand that and, in turn, for the russians to lean on bashir al assad. >> tillerson has said in the past 24 hours there is something of a plan to remove president al assad. does the u.s. have the leverage now after this strike that it needs to push negotiations where, as you well know, have failed? they failed many times before despite the enormous, tireless efforts of secretary kerry? >> well, heaven knows secretary of state john kerry did his very best. no, i don't think a one-time strike against one airfield in syria changes the american leverage very much in a six-year long syrian civi

views syria. this was in direct and targeted retaliation for that chemical attack earlier in the week. and interestingly he also said as we've been reporting that the white house reached out to members of congress, senators, representatives, democrats, republicans as well as they reached out to an international coalition to advice people, but he said this was a 100% u.s. military operation tonight in syria. >> jeff, hold on because i want to pursue something with you. the photos you're seeing are from earlier this week the results of the attack by syrian forces. so many children killed in that attack. images like these as jeff was reporting according to what the secretary of state are saying are some of what deeply effected president trump and suggesting and motivating him to look at options for some sort of retailatory strike. that was an important point. it sounds like he's saying this is not the first of multiple strikes, that this is essentially -- this was to make a statement, but it doesn't

in syria. >> there is no such thing as a sod. but you can defeat isis as long as a sod is there. as long as bush are al-assad is in power in syria, you will have a reason for people to be radicalized in syria. with all this talk of isis, there is an al qaeda group that is prepared to step into the vacuum left behind by a defeated isis. syriannot have a stable as long as bush are al-assad -- bashar al-assad is in power. the idea that we will defeat isis and then figure out what to do with assad is not going to work. administrationmp should be talking about is massive, crippling sanctions on the russian company that is the principal arm supporter for syria. any other company or country in the world that does business with that company. that is where it should begin. then, the discussion should go to -- one, that the russians honor their commitment to remove all chemical weapons from syria. they have not done that yet. secondly, that they implement the cease-fire they negotiated with iran and turk

responsibly in syria. states will no longer wait for assad to use chemical weapons without any consequences. those days are over. now we must move to a new phase, thisve for a solution to horrific conflict. we expect the syrian regime and its allies to take the u.n. political process seriously, something they have not done up until this point. we expect russia and iran to hold their allied accountable and abide by the terms of the cease-fire. we expect this counsel to speak loudly and forcefully when a regime or its allies undermine the political process, and countless of our own resolutions. took a verytates measured step last night. we are prepared to do more. we hope that will not be necessary. it is time for all civilized nations to stop the horrors taking place in syria, and demand a political solution. thank you. i will now resume my function as the president of the council. i give the floor to the representative of the syrian arab republic. at the outset, my delegation wishes to thank both the russi

air strikes in syria. >> roughly went down around 8:40 eastern time last night. 59 tomahawk missiles were launched from "uss ross" and uss porter targeting the shayrat airfield, where syrian aircraft took off before dropping chemical weapons on idlib tuesday, killing dozens of children. >> using a deadly nefsh agent, assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women and children. it was a slow and brutal death for so many. even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack. no child of god should ever suffer such horror. tonight i ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in syria from where the chemical attack was launched. >> joining us here on set, retired army veteran, medal of honor recipient and msnbc military analyst, colonel jack jacobs. what happens from your perspective from the u.s. and -- what will their response be? >> at the end of the day, what's really important is we have a strategy and at the moment we do not have a strategy. we shouldn't confuse this attack

in syria. we are joined by john hannah, former national security office or for vice president cheney and senior counselor at the foundation for defense of democracy. and a senior fellow at the council on foreign relations. welcome to you both. mr. gordan, what did last thursday strike accomplish? -- thursday's strike accomplish? guest: i think if the culturist something important. to send a message that there will be a cost for the use of chemical weapons. that's a narrow message and it doesn't mean the united states is going to intervene to resolve the civil war. means if you use chemical weapons the united states will take them very seriously and do something about it. if you think about the opposite of that message, failing to do something would be a different message. that message would be go right ahead. you can use chemical weapons as much as you like. not only bashar al-assad but anyone else in the region. bashar al-assad but anyone else in the region. i would agree with that. i think it

attack on syria. david: an initial leg up in terms of some of these risk positions. 14, down mayben 62. risk of sentiment reverberating through commodities as well. gold prices continue to rise at the highest level this year. take a look at that spike. japanese yen has reversed losses against the dollar. at the strongest level since november and pus pushing towarda 50%. ♪ >> it is 11:29 in hong kong, i am yvonne man with the latest first word news. the u.s. has launched a cruise missile strike against syria, two days after a chemical attack near idlib kill dozens of officials. two navy destroyers launched 60 tomahawk cruise missile targeting a largest. airbase, hangers, and planes. president trump said no child should ever have to suffer like the victims of that attack. it is in this vital national security interest of the united states to prevent and deter the spread and use of chemical weapons. there can be no dispute that syria used banned chemical weapons, violated its obligations under the chem

alex, you just arrived in lebanon which is right next door to syria and you reported from syria, as well. what's the reaction from your post this morning? >> reporter: good morning, kendis. as the day starts it's heating up and syrians are calling this an aggression and a short time ago the syrian military putting out a statement saying that six people were killed on that base because of the american strikes and saying that there were big materiel losses, as well, the condemnation is fierce. they are saying that the u.s. now is in the same league as isis and al qaeda and other terrorist organizations because of this strike against their air base in syria. >> alex, again, assad as well as russia saying that this was not done by the syrian government. these chemical attacks that prompted president trump to launch these missiles. what is the other international reaction there in the middle east? >> reporter: well, we're seeing a positive reaction from israel which says that trump is sending a strong message to president assad and his allies. that was to be expected from many netanyahu. the

what is his syria policy? i think it's a fair question, because -- >> well, i think -- >> -- what he ran on was very different than what you saw overnight. if someone asked you to articulate the white house policy on syria this morning, could you? >> i don't think they have a policy yet, but they'd better have one because things are probably not going to get better in the syria area there. they're going to get worse, and we're going to be involved one way or the other, so we need a policy. we need to know what it is. the president ought to articulate it to the congress and the american people, and we should respond, if it's a good one. >> given the most recent chemical weapons attack last week on these innocent civilians, you've got dozens dead, including children, horrifying images to see. you know, not that long ago, in 2015, when asked about the refugee situation and syrian refugees coming into the united states, you said, "the syrian refugees, we don't need those people in this country." do you still feel

tomahawk missiles on syria. we are expected to hear from president trump shortly, south florida where we await word. >> i've just been told by a senior administration official that president trump did not call russian president vladimir putin prior to these cruise missiles being launched at syria. we had thoughts, jennifer griffin and i were discussing this earlier tonight, because of the fact that there are so many russians that are in that country and russians who might have been as jennifer griffin was saying a short time ago manning some of those antiaircraft batteries that the president might in some way telegraphed to the russian leader what was about to happen not necessarily to seek his permission for it. but to say you've got a lot of people tell them to take cover. apparently there was no direct contact between the president and vladimir putin. we should probably say that the posture of the united states over the last few hours has been such that any military leader worth their salt would probably get

that gives you an idea of what a mess syria is. when you look at these areas, these are contested areas. that's where john mccain would like to see the safe zones. as we go through this, you take a look at the different groups. these are all the different factions in syria. assad's regime. the rebel coalitions. jihadist groups. kurdish groups. add russia to the list. here's the assad regime. we talked about that. fangs factions in syria. look, they do not agree with each other. that is one of the problems when you look at what the u.s. is going to do. who they're going to side with when this group doesn't agree with this group. it is very difficult to sort of game this out, especially from a military perspective. these are your jihadist groups. this is al qaeda. last thing i wanted to show you, because this is very important, as we talk about the russians and as we talk about why the americans used cruise missiles, look, the russians have a basic no fly zone that extends all the way out to cypress here. the russians are in charge o

the kurds in northern syria. host: i was going to ask you that. on capitol hill this week was whether or not the strike is lawful. attack, it's a one-off if there's nothing more to come from it, what would the legal be that the trump administration used in. > they haven't made a legal justification yet. these things have happened before. attacks inn launched and justified it saying it was a limited attack for humanitarian, and many obama administration. many on capitol hill are unhappy they weren't consulted or advised i think a few hours before hand and that there's been no legal yet. cation of it these strikes cannot fall under passed in 2011as after the 911 attacks. that is directed specifically at al-qaeda and its affiliate. that. different from the 2001aums is the legal troopse under which u.s. somollia, iraq, afghanistan, and yemen. host: i wonder, how does this hange president trump's calculus moving forward? does he order a missile strike assad uses brute force against his own people now? >> that's the qu

|j disagree with simon in the sense that syria is syria. we have to treat this situation on its merits. it is easy to say this isjust like other countries. i don't agree with this counsel of despair that there is nothing that we can do. personally, i think that what we need now is a re—establishment of the international humanitarian principles that we all signed up to. we signed up to... sorry to interrupt, this is a crackle what has been several long time, it has not happened. —— this is exactly what has been said for a long time. mike things be different now if you have voted for military action in 2013? if my vote had been different in 2013, i have no way of knowing if the situation would be better or worse, it is an impossible question to us. do i regret that maybe i could have bought the prime minister back on more occasions, maybe we could have asked more questions? of course, i think about every missed opportunity everyday. but my regret will do no good for in syria. what can do some good is a re—establishment of humanitarian

is playing a role in syria right now. there are ground troops whether american population knows it or not in northern syria today. 92% of all civilians killed in syria have been killed by this regime and allieallies. isis is enemy number two. >> if the logic of that is this is now a sort of new chapter in this war because u.s. which has been targeting isis which is one part of the complicated battle space, now it is turning its attention to the regime, do you think that escalating against the regime would be helpful? >> i think sending a clear message to the regime, the russian allies is key to stop the slaughter from above. most are killed by air forces. if a message is sent to ground the planes and sending a message like this today as we have seen to ground air force it is key to stop the murder. that is what we need to get over the hump and end this war. >> do you think -- in terms of end this war, the end point in the last two years we have seen the assad regime retake ground, aided largely by the russians and iranian

strikes in syria. his foreign minister warning of the fallout to come. >> translator: i'm particularly disappointed by the way this damages u.s./russia relationships. >> reporter: what little trust there was is eroded. >> he's saying this could escalate and this could mean conflict between the united states and russia which is something that terrifies all of us. >> reporter: a senior u.s. official said the u.s. military gave their counterparts one-hour notice about the strike. >> if the united states is going after the syrian regime which russia supports the risks go way up, right the united states is taking bases where russians are, it's attacking facilities where russians are, and it's at war with people the russia are backing. >> reporter: another sign of immense tension between the washington and miss cow. the u.s. military is looking for any evidence that the russian regime was complicit in the chemical wales in recent days or if russia had any knowledge of it. a kremlin spokesman said that's not

[laughter] >> [inaudible] >> i think syria exists, that syria still exists to some extent, and it exists in parts, but its parts have been centrifuged out, unfortunately, and, yes, it exists to some extent, diaspora exists to some extent inside, but i think we would be naive to think that syria's going to emerge as it was before. and, unfortunately, a lot of people have -- i mean, demographics are shifting. you know, the regime is very invested -- it has no problem with all these refugees leaving, and it's more than happy the replace them with a demography that works in their favor. but that was why i kind of wanted to go back. this was something we were talking about. i just felt like nobody was going to know what was at stake and what was being lost if we kind of didn't go back and sort of present an idea, a vision or a recounting or chronicle of what had been and to remind people, i guess. is because it doesn't seem like the stakes are high for anybody other than syrians or people who care about syria. it's just yet another middle eastern state that we're told is caught up in some mil

in 2013 he tweeted "stay out of syria. do not attack syria. if you do, many bad things will happen. there's no upside enter modest downside kits" during a scan is rich edson. >> secretary state rex tillerson and speaking of this issue spoke about this frequently and forcefully on any issue as secretary of state in the short time he has been secretary of state. the argument from secretary of state rex tillerson is that bashar al-assad has used chemical weapons and has done so repeatedly. he was normalizing that use and tonight's attack and last evening's attack was a response to that. he has also gotten more critical of russia and in holding russia accountable. remember a few years back with the obama administration, russia brokered a deal with syria and that they would dispose of their chemical weapons and that russia would guarantee and destroy those weapons. secretary of state said clearly that didn't happen. russia has failed to deliver on that commitment. and that russia is either complicit or simply incompetent as a secretary of state continues his pressure all throughout the d

strikes on syria. u.s. ambassador to the u.n., nikky haley depended the action while representatives from russia and syria condemned this attack. this is two hours. >> good morning. the meeting is called to order. on behalf to have council, i would first like to offer my condolences to the victims in weden. we have been reminded this week that the scars of terrorism affects many countries and we are united and share in our results. the situation, the provisional agenda is the situation in the middle east. the agenda is adopted in accordance with rule 37 of the council's provisional rules of procedure. i invite the representative of the syrian arab republic to participate in this. t is so decided. in accordance with rule 39 of the council's provisional rules of procedure, i invite mr. jeffrey feltman to participate in this meeting. it is so decided. the security council now begin its consideration of item 2 of the agenda and i will now give the floor to mr. jeffrey feltman. >> madam president, thank you and

trump has actually doubled the number in syria. there are potential targets, not easy to get to but potential targets and, most importantly, i think the big picture for the american people is to ask, have we entered the syrian civil war? have we entered the syrian civil war on one side that is against assad and what does all of that mean? are we in it for the long haul? are we willing to commit more troops and resources? are we in some kind of alliance with jihadis in syria? that is going to shape a lot of what president trump has to deal with and the one thing i can assure you is president trump is now going to be dealing well syria a lot more than he might have one week ago. he might have thought he had a limited battle against isis. he's now in the middle of a very complicated civil war. >> fareed zakaria, thank you so much. we'll see you on sunday with all of this and commander harmer, thank you. nick paton walsh, appreciate your time here as well. >>> the dramatic shift by president trump and his administration. is he moving a

intervention in syria for years. he says that president trump has told him that he, president trump, will be consulting with defense secretary james mattis d with his national security adviser h.r. mcmaster, he will be consulting with them to try to devise a potential response to that chemical weapons attack in syria. again, a lot of moving parts here. lots of questions. nbc's hans nichols is standing outside the white house. hans, if the administration is moving toward some sort of formal response here, using some sort of force in response to this, what are the sorts of options we would be talks about? >> reporter: well, there are a lot of assets, steve, the united states has in the entire region, the eastern mediterranean, the northern persian gulf, arabian gulf as sometimes they call it in the navy and the favnavy thee very focused on that. "george w. bush," aircraft carrier in the northern persian gulf and cruise missiles and ships in the eastern med. a lot of options. now, you look at where both isis is in syria

they don't understand syria. the second part of the country not interested in, in terms of geopolitics on the eve of the arab spring the united states wanted out of the middle east. after the 2003 oh iraq warar debacle they wanted to step back consciously say that under obama we don't want to get stuck in the middle east. temporarily, they abandon that logic when they got involved in libya. that turned sour and reinforce the idea that getting involved in middle eastern countries is a bad idea for so to problems in syria which is number one a country they don't care about. and secondly, at a time when they want to step back from the region. >> enter donald trump so we talk about this earlier, we still do not know what donald trump's approach to the middle east was areas. despite this strike that he is done, he is restrained by the same restraint that brock obama was is that syria is not important to the united states strategically. it seems to be even more remiss than it was in 2011 because the civil war has been

was preparing to launch those missiles into syria. the chinese leader is not happy with the decision, firstly because of optics. , soas being wined and dined this doesn't look good back home. his tightly controlled government, the washington post says he does not like surprises. tensions are mounting with russia and syria's ally as well. sean spicer maintains that a solder respect the agreement not to use chemical weapons. now it is emerging that there's no real clear plan for what is next. donald trump has made his point. supporteceived a lot of from some of his most ardent critics, including florida senator marco rubio. he retweeted a proverb, saying the wicked will not go punished. senators john mccain and lindsey graham releasing a joint statement. is where totion from here. article was written, saying some are calling for the strikes to can and you for the military action to continue. was clear is he was trying to distinguish himself from barack obama. >> him with his right-wing allies. >> some supporters very upset. seek congres

strike on syria. missiles into the country.g targeting the airbase responsible for this week's chemical weapon attacks. new video this morning allegedly the damaged airfield as syria says nine people were killed, others wounded. the president of the united states addressing the nation. >> it is in this vital national security interest of the united states to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons. >> russia condemns the u.s. attack calling the accusations, quote, trumped up. and vowing to help syria combat more air strikes. while new questions arise this morning, what is the president's end game? and what will syria's leader do next? we got a lot to get through this morning. i want to start with what exactly we know right now about the u.s. missile strike. the first to target the assad regime during their six-year-long civil war. all right: 8:40 p.m. eastern last tight, 3:40 a.m. local, 59 tomahawk missiles fired from u.s. naval ships in the mediterranean into the shayrat airf

they need syria. it doesn't matter whether assad runs syria or anyone else runs syria. however if we can get together with russia to solve the syrian problem and make a decision on who is going run syria, there is one clinker that we can't effect. doesn't care about warm water ports. iran is in a different battle. they are aligned in propping up assad, but at the end of the day, we satisfy this russian requirement, we still have to deal with iran and they don't yield easily to strategic notions of national security. >> so many that are so complex. >>o we still think about 10 or 13 minutes from now? >> that's what we are thinking, but stiemsma reometimetiemsmomr early. he has been to the right of president trump. we saw that at one of the first briefings he did in brussels. to the right of the president talk about how there wasn't the ability to cooperate with the russians. the russians were somehow involved on that chemical weapons attack of april 4th. they provide a fair amount of circumstantial evidence. whether or not mattis says and accuses russia of being behind or

air strike on syria. that's next. >>> tonight i call on all civilized nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in syria and also to end terrorism of all kinds and all types. >> all right. that was president trump just hours ago remarking on what motivated him to strike syria, and we have new reaction this morning from russia on those strikes. nbc's lucy cav nov has the details from our london bureau. >> good morning. we're just seeing new comments from the syrian information minister saying the u.s. strike was, quote, limited and expected. this coming to us via reutersment he said that syria does not expect military escalation as a result of these strikes. now, condemnation of the attack, no surprise of course from the kremlin this morning with the russian president spokesman telling reporters that president putin believes the u.s. attack was an aggression against a sovereign country that he sees the strikes as an attempt to divert attention from numerous civilian casualties in ira